Hydroperoxides are strong oxidants that have a significant influence on chemical processes in the atmosphere. Now, an international research team involving the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has shown that these substances also form from α‑keto acids such as pyruvic acid in clouds, rain and aerosol water when exposed to sunlight. These reactions could be responsible for 5 to 15 percent of the observed atmospheric hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the aqueous phase. This means that the photolysis of α-keto acids has now been identified as another important source of atmospheric oxidants, the researchers write in Science Advances, the open-access journal of the renowned scientific journal SCIENCE. Since these oxidation processes influence both the formation and degradation of particles and air pollutants, the newly discovered reaction pathway is of great importance for air quality and climate forecasts.

445 million years ago, life on our planet was forever changed. During a geological blink of an eye, glaciers formed over the supercontinent Gondwana, drying out many of the vast, shallow seas like a sponge and giving us an ‘icehouse climate’ that, together with radically changed ocean chemistry, ultimately caused the extinction of about 85% of all marine species – the majority of life on Earth.

In a new Science Advances study, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have now proved that from this biological havoc, known as the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME), came an unprecedented richness of vertebrate life. During the upheaval, one group came to dominate all others, putting life on the path to what we know it as today: jawed vertebrates.

Using a tiny, acid-tolerant yeast, scientists have demonstrated a cost-effective way to make disposable diapers, microplastics, and acrylic paint more sustainable through biomanufacturing. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Penn State University developed a bio-based method to produce 3-Hydroxypropanoic acid (3-HP), a precursor chemical for the acrylic acid used in those products, and validated its commercial potential for this lucrative market. The scientists are all part of the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Research Center.

New research published in Science introduces a promising solid electrolyte material that could improve the performance of next-generation lithium batteries, particularly at lower temperatures. Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) Research Professor of Chemistry James Kaduk, who co-authored the paper, contributed a key finding to the research: identifying where lithium atoms reside within the crystalline structure.

The flagellar tails of bacteria rotate clockwise or counterclockwise because of active mechanical forces that pressure the individual ‘teeth’ of a gear to cooperate. This revises a decades-old model of how bacteria tails switch their rotational direction. The study, led by scientists at the Flatiron Institute, appears in Nature Physics.